TROY - A Saratoga Springs developer has brought his building ownership in the city to a total of four as Sonny Bonacio has purchased the Cinema Art building, located on River Street.

Jim Conroy, an associate broker for Prudential Blake Commercial Realtors, said Bonacio purchased the building last week under the Dauchy/River Triangle LLC, based out of Saratoga Springs with Keith Ferrara, who works for Bonacio Construction Inc., as organizer.

Conroy would not disclose how much the building was purchased for but said he had brokered it for the past year. It was previously owned by Cinema Art Theater Inc., based in Rochester.

This will be the fourth building purchased by Bonacio as he owns the River Triangle and Dauchy buildings as well as the Keenan Building.

Advertisement

The Cinema Art building has a history of controversy.

In 2006, it was raided by city police after it was learned lewd sex acts were taking place inside the building that housed a sex novelty shop and showed pornographic movies on the big screen.

More controversy developed after the historic marquee attached to the front of the building was taken down as the city claimed it was in danger of collapsing.

Jan DeGroote, former owner of the building who also owns the company based out of Rochester, sued the city claiming his civil rights were violated since he was only told about the demolition less than 24 hours before it occurred.

He also said he hired two engineers to look at the marquee and they informed him it was structurally sound.

The city settled the lawsuit just before the case was set for trial and paid DeGroote $30,000, which included attorney's fees.

Former Mayor Harry Tutunjian, Fire Chief Tom Garret, City Engineer Russ Reeves and other unnamed individuals were named in the suit. Tutunjian's name was later removed from the lawsuit.

A representative for Bonacio Construction Inc. could not be reached for comment Wednesday. It is unclear what plans the company has for the building.